Entered film as an apprentice film editor at MGM in 1951, cut his first film, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", in 1960 and began a productive collaboration with Sydney Pollack in 1969 with "They Shoot Horses, Don't They". Steinkamp began co-editing with his son, William Robert Steinkamp, in the 1980s, and the pair have gained recognition for their work on films such as Pollack's "Tootsie" (1982), "Out of Africa" (1985), "Havana" (1990) and "Sabrina" (1995).

Entered film as an apprentice film editor at MGM in 1951, cut his first film, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", in 1960 and began a productive collaboration with Sydney Pollack in 1969 with "They Shoot Horses, Don't They". Steinkamp began co-editing with his son, William Robert Steinkamp, in the 1980s, and the pair have gained recognition for their work on films such as Pollack's "Tootsie" (1982), "Out of Africa" (1985), "Havana" (1990) and "Sabrina" (1995).